FAQ'S

We strive to and do provide the highest quality established lines of PROVEN healthy, intelligent, pyschcologically sound, well tempered with breed perfect comformation of ANY puppies you will find. 

We have YEARS of proof living in 46 states and Canada.  

Experience and wisdom cannot be taught by following a step by step in a Breeder's How To book or by following an online course...

We have been around for a time. We receive emails, messages and calls from our families expressing how grateful they are for the best dog they have ever had. We have worked years and years to ensure the consistent quality in our lines. We have had ZERO genetic or health issues in ANY puppy we have produced. So yes, we are very proud.

We are not young folk, in our 50's.  Therefore, we have no interest or inclination to just tell you what we think you want to hear. In fact, if we feel a puppy is not for you we will tell you. And, if you are not for our puppies, we will tell you. We also do not have the energy to be anything that we are not. We eat breath and sleep puppies and dogs which takes time and energy and we wouldn't have it any other way, we love this life. 

Our reputation and puppies speak for us! We are not above bragging on our program and our lines and as Brion always boldly says "I'll put my puppies up against any others for health, quality, intelligence and temperment, we have our families as proof!" 

The Last Puppy Available.

The most asked question:

"What's wrong with it?

To err on the side of brevity..................NOTHING!

In all aspects of everything to do with anything, someone or something has to be last. It's inevitable. There is an end to a line, last roll of TP and last available puppy.

Here's an example. We may have 8 puppies in a litter. 6 chocolate and 2 black, let's say. Everyone who was seeking a puppy at that time is looking for typically something different. A curly black puppy. A straight coat chocolate puppy. Five of those people see our ad or are referred to us. They choose their color and gender. One puppy is left. Maybe we had 6 girls and 1 boy - 4 black girls, 1 chocolate girl and 1 chocolate boy. But, everyone that contacts me for this litter is wanting girls. That's what they've been seeking. Those are all reserved, I have one chocolate boy. He looks identical to 1of his sisters and I have to pick him up to tell him apart. Same look. Same genetics. Same everything except, instead of like the last puppy season when families wanted all boys, I have families wanting all girls this time. This little boy puppy ends up being last.

Not because he isn't as cute. Not because he has any issues. Not because he has any attribute that is not as attractive as his twin sister. 

When people seek puppies to add to their families, when they find us and if we have puppies is a lottery. What puppy we have when they contact us at what age the puppy is not predictable.

And, annndddd,  in several puppy seasons, we have predicted the puppy that will be chosen first and they have ended up being our last available puppy. We had predicted due to first chosen in past litters.  Every season it's different.  To entertrain ourselves, we still predict. But, because, in that season families were looking for female puppies and I had this one boy.  For no other reason except the timing of what I had and what was being sought were in conflict with one another, at that particular time. The next season we have the opposite and families are seeking boys not girls and we have one girl as last available puppy. All due to timing. Therefore our predictions are rarely accurate. We shall not be playing the horses.......

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Poodle and Riggs (the parents to all our Mama Labradoodles)had black coated puppies, the majority are blue (when you look at their skin it looks blue!) and a few chocolates to make things interesting, Yes, they themselves are blonde and chocolate, but their genetic pairing created in for the majority the black puppy.

We kept their daughters, 2 black and one chocolate.

Lucy is a black F1 Labradoodle. Lucy was pitch black when born, with bluing . Lucy now has a darkish coat with coarse white hair sparsed through and has  rust colored highlights. We groom her twice a year and her shedding is almost nonexistent.

Her puppies are every color imaginable pretty much, black, chocolate, silver beige, cream, and all those combinations with white which make the partis. Basically one end of color wheel to the other. She will only have a few black puppies.

Color of the parent in a doodle DOES NOT DETERMINE COLOR OF THEIR PROGENY!!

We breeders will refer to "what they carry". Meaning, what genetically their parents and their parents parents carry color wise.  Because we have raised generation of girl's we keep for mama's and we use one Daddy, Louie, we have similar puppies in every litter. 

They will have, sometimes, white blazes on their chest and face, white on their feet or tips of their tails or are - the Parti.  They are white and another color. We have had chocolate, apricot, black and cream partis. Our Unicorn? The cream/white parti! Only 3 over the years!

 But wait, there's more! 

Their coat color and density change over the course of time. They lose their puppy coats, they may get more fleecey or more scruffy.

Lucy, is Riggs and Poodle's daughter.

She is an F1 Labradoodle. Lucy was pitch black when born, with bluing . Lucy now has a darkish coat with coarse white hair sparsed through and has  rust colored highlights. We groom her twice a year and her shedding is almost nonexistent.  Her sister AbbyGabby, has a shorter coat, the scruffy doodle look, and over the years has become for lack of a better reference multi colored or sable. She started out as a black puppy with a few brown hairs on her legs. Now, she is black, with rust and cream legs, cream and silver on her muzzle and rust spots on her torso and ears. 

Now, onto the MERLE!

So, this is a hot topic in the Poodle world, not so much in the Doodle World. And, was a much researched topic of interest for me personally. I will not bore anyone with the bazillion opinions of the Poodle purists (these are folks that breed poodles only to standard and have public disdain for Doodles (even though at least 20 of them come to mind quite quickly that breed Doodles on the down-low and or sell sperm from a stud to 100's of Doodle Breeders a year). Nor, will I bore you or flex a bit and explain this using the technical verbiage and blather on. In a nutshell, if genetics are done and any Breeder worth a salt does them, they will be sent a breed breakdown with the health panel and color carry info.  The long waged debate is is a Merle Poodle actually 100% Poodle. Now, a Parti, or fading Poodle are considered 100% Poodle, but, are disqualified from standard. Standard being Dog Show basically. However, I have had all 3 types, Merle, Parti and  fading gene. Guess what? When DNA panels are sent in and genetics are done, by a genetics expert, the results have come back on all 3 every single one are 100% Poodle AND, ANNNNDDD, SO ARE THEIR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS ETC, ETC, ETC.

Sooo, if the science states that a Merle Poodle is 100% Poodle. I am thinking it quite obvious I am going with the science. As well, when in Doodles (we truly care nothing about any other breed, honestly) the more unique the coat we can and do produce in genectically healthy puppies is the goal of every Doodle Breeder. They are beautiful, unique and definately one of a kind. Have you seen them? There is a reason the Merle Doodle is so sought after, a unique breed, the Doodle, with a unique coat- Merle. 

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The Mini, Micro and Toy Doodle. 

If you seek this please read this.

Every size downgrade requires YEARS of breeding down to get the small size, safely. 

A large Labrador, Bernese Mountain Dog, Golden Retriever, Sheep Dog bred to anything smaller than a poodle in it's own size catagory or a very slight size smaller is unsafe, unconscionable and just flipping wrong.

The size difference from an 80 pound Labrador bred to a 10 pound miniature can cause health issues- dwarfism, heart, joint, twisted legs, and the worst, a brain too large for the skull. 

If the puppy is referred to as mini, micro, toy or petite and has F1 or F1b attached to it, this has occurred from unethical breeding.

To create a Mini, the breeding is done very slowly, over generations. 

In order to breed down that small one must breed back to smaller dogs, a like generation, or typically a toy Poodle over, not 1 or 2 generations, but, over years to have been considered safely healthy . 

Added, after safely breeding down, you end up genetically with, drumroll please ... 99 - 100% POODLE!  Poodle Genetics are the only genetics left.

This topic hurts my head. I get truly worked up about it. 

The whole point in having a labradoodle for example it to have the intelligence and single non-shed coat of a poodle passed down joined with the loyalty, family oriented, sweetness of a labrador. 

By repeatedly breeding down for size you lose the lab and have the poodle and therefore, NO LONGER HAVE A LABRADOODLE or any other doodle. Go buy yourself a mini or toy poodle, because, genetically that what you are getting by seeking mini, micro and toy doodles. We want to have the Labra or the Berne present in our doodles, it's that simple. Besides, we love big dogs!

Scammers suck! We get several puppy families contacting us AFTER they have been scammed. Most of the time it is because they interacted solely through email or text. We have been contacted by families stating that someone pruporting to be us is trying to sell them a Shibu Inu or a Dachsund and thankfully became suspicious and contacted us.

The scammers work both sides. As wary you are of being scammed, we are as well. They work the buyers for a quick buck and they work us by stealing our pictures and information to make themselves appear more legitimate. We had in one instance had our ads hijacked and the cost and effort to shut it down was immense. 

But, they were ridiculous little traps we fell into and had we not been so trusting and naive we would have seen coming a mile away.

How is the best way to spot one?

Never Ever Ever send a cashier's check or take one. They are fake. In a recent scam a breeder was sent a cashier's check for over the amount and then asked to send the overage to the scammer's Paypal account. Well, why would he need to send a check if he had a Paypal? 

CALL!! Do not rely solely on email and text, I know it is the new normal, but, you find out a lot by speaking to someone, you can gauge inflection in voice, they can't copy and paste knowledge on a phone call. I can tell typically if someone that emails me then will not call me and the conversation is ended when I ask them to call me. Besides, we live to talk about our dogs and puppies. They are our whole existence, our lives are centered around them, we WANT to tell you about them. A scammer would not be able to even touch our level of enthusiasm.

Friend them on Facebook. Brion doesn't have one but I do. They will not have a Facebook since 2012 with 300 friends, they will have a Facebook profile with 12 friends and not interactions with any of them. Plus, you can usually see their post when you search their name. Most real people will have real people stuff like pics of their kids etc.

Facebook has turned a bit treacherous for us and for Buyers.

I am not so trusting of anyone contacting me from Facebook and always request that they call me on the phone. A Buyer should definately be wary of someone that is offering puppies solely on Facebook or Instagram.

I will first say that if the price looks too good to be true for the puppy in the post it definatley is too good to be true. Your jumping on the post to get that beautiful puppy at half the price of what a reputable breeder would offer it as means one of two things- stolen picture scam or inexperienced breeder. The inexperienced breeders are easy to pick up on their pictures are not the best, the puppy is probably over go home age and they are a little desperate. Breeders have all been an inexperienced breeder, and everyone has to start in the same place. However, those of us that have withstood the test of time did our research and found a mentor to enable us to produce healthy, well socialized with proven lineage. With the Covid puppy epidemic, many many puppy owners have decided they will breed to make extra money. Unfortunately, they never asked a veteran breeder how very time consuming, expensive and hard phyiscally labor intensive it really is. This trend seems to be winding down a bit as a majority have decided it's too much work and stopped at one litter. We personally mentor several new breeders. It is imperative that a new breeder be honest about their level of experience and that their price be reflective of this. 

A new twist that  I have noticed is the "I got a puppy from so and so and I recommend them) on Facebook scam. The poster is actually the scammer and there is no puppies, they are the friend, they have stolen pictures and just referred you to themselves. 

If you google a reputable breeder you will find an excessive of info on them as Google has no time limit. If I google Only Doodles, I see a few pages of where I have been for the last several years.

Ask to video chat. We video chat, especially in the Covid times. 

Ask for a photo taken with us holding up a thumbs up or something only you and I know. A scammer will have only the pictures they have stolen. They cannot produce a pic of a puppy with me giving the "ok" sign. 

But, first and foremost, CALL!!!

** WE ARE PROFESSIONAL DOG BREEDERS NOT TRAINERS, OUR RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE BEEN BENEFICIAL TO OUR FAMILIES  OVER SEVERAL YEARS, WE RECOMMEND BAXTER & BELLA BEYOND WHAT WE CAN PERSONALLY ASSIST WITH!

The majority of calls we receive after a puppy goes home are from first time dog owners.

Puppies are babies. 

You would not expect a human infant to not cry, not potty, not chew because they are teething, not want attention right when they want it.

All babies are work.

DO NOT BLAME THE PUPPY! THEY WAKE UP THEMSELVES EVERY DAY, IT'S HOW YOU REACT TO THEM BEING THEM THAT BECOMES AN ISSUE! TRAINING IS KEY, THE EARLIER THE BETTER!

Puppies are used to the only environment they know, sleeping in a puppy pile, chewing on their littermates, and have never been alone.

Stress, change in water, food and environment can and do cause tummy troubles. Soft stool IS NOT diarrhea. Diarrhea is watery and explosive! Puppies tummy trouble usually happens in the first week, and will settle within the first few weeks when they assimilate to their new environment. 

Rawhide, rope, thin plastic or rubber toys are not good for puppies OR dogs! They swallow pieces that their tummies cannot digest. Some may pass the parts and pieces, and then some will have to have them surgically removed! Research your toys! 

Excessive crating has proven to cause behavior problems and joint and bone growth issues. Dogs are social creatures and putting them in jail because you don't take time to train them will cause problems in the long run! Doodles are friendly and extremely intelligent. Make the time to teach them manners!

Please remember how their little lives change in a very short period of time, how confusing and scary it would be to have so many changes so quickly.

Thankfully, puppies are super adaptable. Be patient, and repetitious and consistent in your training.

It is imperative that puppies receive their full series of vaccinations after they go home and are not exposed to dog parks or unvaccinated and unknown animals prior to the final series at 16 weeks. Our babies health is of the upmost importance to us and we are entrusting you to keep them safe and healthy!

PLEASE CALL , EMAIL, MESSAGE US ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE OR TEXT WITH ANY QUESTIONS, ANYTIME 

AND 

REMEMBER.....

If you don't spend the time to train them, don't blame them.....there are no bad puppies, even if they eat your shoes!!

PLEASE, PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU, TRAINING IS INTREGAL TO EVERYONE'S HAPPINESS. WE HAVE A PAGE COMPLETELY DEVOTED TO BAXTER & BELLA'S LIFETIME TRAINING PROGRAM. WE HAVE BEEN APPROACHED BY  NUMEROUS TRAINING PROGRAMS OVER THE YEARS AND THIS IS THE ONE AND ONLY, ONE AND ONLY! THAT WE FEEL COMFORTABLE AND CONFIDENT IN PARTNERING WITH. NEVER HAVE WE EVER ENCOUNTERED SUCH AN ALL ENCOMPASSING TRAINING PROGRAM THAT HELPS YOU, ACTUALLY WANTS TO INTERACT AND SEE YOU SUCCEED WITHOUT YOU WALLET BEING EMPTIED! PLEASE SEE OUR PAGE REGARDING BAXTER & BELLA!

Most asked question: how do we potty train a puppy?

Answer: You are not potty training that puppy, you are training yourself and family members to feed, water and take that puppy out on a consistent schedule. 

There will be accidents, they are babies. I had four sons. Their potty training was approached in the same manner. It took time. This will take time. Your consistency will determine how quickly this happens.

You are the one being trained! 

Repitition is everything and praise for positive behavior is key. Set your phone, smart watch, or like us old folk, an egg timer starting at 1/2 hour and take the puppy out every half hour and increase the time as they and their tiny bladder age. 

PUPPY PADS....NO NO NO!!!

Let me ask you this one question.....are you wanting to teach you puppy that it should find pottying in your house the most acceptable choice in where to potty? If this is not your goal then why would you in essence do so by using a pee pad? If you teach yourself to take them out consistently, are patient, expect accidents and accept they are babies and that their sole goal in life is to please you, you'll survive it!

Of course! 

Every week, once a week I  take pictures and post one group video on our Facebook Page Only Doodles and Goose Down Kennel.

Please remember, we have people things to do just like and I too, need to buy groceries do my laundry, etc.

I will answer calls and email all day long, however, picture taking is a tune consuming endeavor and we have several puppies, be considerate, please. 

I will treat you like you're special, because you are! You chose one of my babies!

Return the favor, though! We love pictures as they grow! We have a family group where our families post and we get almost daily texts with pics, videos and updates about our babies, we love them, send them!

Yes, within reason...

Stuff happens. 

If it is a case of weather causing shipping cancellations or an unfortunate event occurring out of your control, we will board your puppy up to 5 days at no cost to you, after such time a reasonable boarding fee will be required.

We are very nice people, however, this has worked against us a multitude of times in the past as we have kept puppies because of non emergency reasons. It is not alright, it is not ok, and we would never inconvenience or put anyone out in this manner ourselves. 

Also, the longer we have a puppy, the more it bonds to us, not fair, not fair at all to the puppy or us. 

We began  Goose Down Kennel as that was our name when we bred Labs years ago and on Facebook as a Group Page to allow our puppy families to allow them a place to post their photos and brags. We are not internet savvy people, and then made a Facebook Business page. We had to chose a name for our website, but, Goose Down Kennel was already taken. So we chose Only Doodles! 

We are still the same people with the same dogs, same dedication, and same quality of care for our dogs, puppies and families.